Zuiderdam b2b 8/7 to 8/21 THE REVIEW! (Long)

Ok everyone,

Please keep in mind; this is our first cruise and “only our very own opinion” on our first experience with Hal & cruising. We know others will have totally different experiences; we are just giving you ours. Also this review will be long, so I’m sorry if this offends you, I don’t want to leave out any detail that might help others for their cruise J

FLYING DAY:

Hubby and I departed LAX on Delta on 8/6/04 for FLL. We booked our airfare thru Hal as this was our first cruise, check is at the airport was a breeze with Hal’s e-ticket service, we walked up to a computer, stuck in our e-ticket and off we went to start checking our bags in. Bags all checked in less than 5 minutes and off to security. This went fast but had I thought about it before I would have worn sandals instead if tennis shoes and socks as they made you take off your shoes and put them thru the x-ray machine and there were only 3 chairs to sit and put them back on before proceeding to the gate.

We had a stop over in Georgia (only 1hr and 10 minutes). We thought this amount of time was just right! We ate, went to the new gate, and off to FLL.

When we arrive at FLL, HAL reps are waiting for us, they took care of our carry-on luggage while we got our checked luggage, and they then took our entire luggage to the bus for our 1 night pre-cruise stay. We waited for one other couple (approx. 10 minutes) then off to the Westin in FLL.

The Westin was truly a 5-star Hotel, but we would have preferred staying at a 4-star on the beach J

Our first negative was to find out that we would not leave for the ship the next day until 1:15pm, check out time was 1pm so that worked out well except we wanted to get on the ship not spend ½ the day at a hotel.

EMBARKATION DAY:

Arrive at the port at 1:30. The line seemed long but as soon as we entered the room we were ushered off to the handicap check-in, hubby was using a cane. We were checked in 10 minutes, thru security and on the ship by 1:50pm, our friends we met at the hotel arrived onboard 35 minutes later. We were then escorted to our verandah cabin #4135.

Our cabin was very nice, we had the larger veranda and it was wonderful! It was very clean and spotless, we did not have the new mattresses yet (only in suites so far) but we did have the new towels and robes. We met our cabin steward “Gulu” later that day. He is very good at his job and a very friendly guy J we loved him and he spoiled us rotten hehehee. We tipped our cabin steward and said, ssssshhhh don’t tell, he politely told us that he would have to share with the others as new Tipping Policy of $10 per day per person stated, they have to turn in tips during the cruise, then when the tipping is not removed at the end of the cruise, they would get it back plus their share of the regular tipping, if it was removed, they would have to share with others. Our first sea day the toilets were plugged up so we had to use public restrooms, which was not a problem since we were about the ship so much, we just made sure we used the restroom before returning to our cabin. Early evening the toilet as filling up to the top, I called the front desk and told them this was not our mess in the toilet and would not be very happy if it over flowed into our cabin, it was fixed with 30 minutes and the next day they sent us a nice bottle of wine with a nice apology letter. Apparently a lot of pax assume you can flush just about anything down the toilets and then they plug the whole line, so HAL sent all cabins a letter asking everyone not to flush anything other than t.p. down the toilets, we never had any plugging problems in the next 2 weeks. Our A/C worked great the whole time! Our room steward even brought my hubby a fan the first night cause hubby needs the wind blowing in his face to sleep hehehehe.

We then headed to the Lido to get some lunch. Good food but nothing really different that a regular buffet, hey wait! There is another section! Italian food, pizza and pasta with all kinds of sauces, oh noo there is more! Create your own sandwich/sub bar! Oh the meat and cheese choices! Yummy! Oh noooooo another station! The Bistro was wonderful, with Beef Wellington, Chicken Cacciatore, Filet Mingon and much more! Oh my I’m in heaven, here is the desert station! I cant tell you the name of all of the deserts they have each night (at least 9 – 15 different ones) but I think by the end of our 2 week cruise, I managed to try them all, some several times hehehehe, and I loved the bread pudding!

The lifeboat drill, was hot and longer than necessary because some pax thought they did not need to attend even though they were told repeatedly they were required to attend, finally they showed up and we were all able to leave, we were impressed that the information given incase of an emergency was very thorough and helpful, I felt safer already. We then went to the Lido Pool for the sail away celebration. As we are not drinkers (nothing wrong with those who do J we just don’t) there was not much else for us but the view and music, the drinks they were selling looked yummy but we felt they should have had drinks for non-drinkers as well, but by no means did this spoil any part of our cruise, we just learned where to get our ice tea in the Lido before hand hehehe.

Off to our room to change for our first casual dinner, off to the dinning room early lower 6:15 seating table #152 for 6 where we met our servers Eko and Yo. They were a little slow the first night (aren’t first nights always hectic hehehe) but all other nights they were right on top of things, they even remembered what we liked in our coffee. They were a little embarrassed since they were limiting entrees to one per person. They said it was the first time they had done this. No biggy for us since we only wanted one except one night and our waited sneaked it to us hehehe. We only heard one complaint about this and also learned that this was not enforced for the second seating pax, I guess they wanted to make sure second seating had everything that was on the menu which we understood completely. We did have two or 3 desserts though! All our meals were outstanding, at first we thought they were small but by the time you got to desert we were quite full! Most nights we only had one or two bites of desert because we were so full! Our tablemates were really nice people, however after the first night we were down to 4, one of the couples wanted a later meal time and switched to 8:30pm seating. The 4 of us had wonderful meals together. The food was really well prepared, presented and tasted great! Some dishes were better than others but even then they were good! We tried a lot of new dishes, some we liked and some we didn’t, but it was not because it was cooked poorly, we just didn’t like the taste.

On to the Vista Lounge for show time, these all were great! Only thing that was a negative for my hubby was that he had a hard time staying awake before the show started, food and past his normal bed time makes for a sleepy pax hehehehe, me the night owl however didn’t mind the 8:30pm time showing. Some shows were better than others but they were all good to great! The pre-shows were also funny and good. These were the ones like the Match Game, the Not So Newlywed game, etc.

NASSAU:

We took the Seahorse Sail & Snorkel excursion; the reef they took us too was wonderful! It was a diverted reef as we had really rough waters so we got to go to their 5-star site instead of the 4-star we paid for. We were very disappointed in their snorkel equipment (old, old stuff) and the catamaran was very slippery when wet! 15 pax fell that day! It was not just the rough seas, they needed rougher surfaces on the catamaran where you stood and walked. Also the walk to the catamaran from the ship was at least 4 blocks away, this was the same for all water excursions.

Shopping was ok but prices seemed high in all ship recommended stores, we found the best deals for souvenirs in the straw market which was very hot and smelly hehehe. We did not care too much for this port but oh well we are very thankful to be safe!

HALF MOON CAY:

We get up and are in the Lido around 6:30am for breakfast. We rented the turquoise cabana and did not want to waste a minute on this wonderful island! WOW! I think we finally found Paradise! We were given a priority tender pass with our cabana rental and were on the first tender out! Painless to say the least, as we expected worse from past posts. Also with the cabana rental you get to take the last tender off at 4pm so we didn’t have to wait in line then either. We loved the cabana! It came with an ice chest filled with 12 cans of soda pop and 4 waters, there was fresh fruit basket and flowers on the table, in the refrigerator (in the cupboard – lots of space to store personal stuff in too) was sliced fruit plate, olives, veggies & dip plate, salsa, avocado dip and chips, 2 lounge chairs with mist’ers, fresh water shower on deck, We had mats and snorkel gear for 4. We had 6 washcloths in ice cold water with ice packed on top, for our faces or body to cool down with. Our cabana guy was “Mario” and was he ever great! He was always making sure we had everything we needed or wanted, he brought us extra towels too. The electricity kept shutting off every 30 minutes and they would get it going again in 10 minutes time, this lasted 2 hours and all was well after that. We felt it was well worth the money, what a day of being spoiled in Paradise!

Off to get my hair braided for our renewal of vows ceremony, that took 55minutes and because it was a special day for me they gave me a deal, The cost for others are half head $40.00, full head $55.00,

Also book early as they book up fast! They gave me a full head for $35.00!

That done I met hubby and friends at Bahaman chapel, what a wonderful little ceremony they put together for us, we even had champagne and caviar afterwards! There was one other couple (married 14 yrs,) who were also renewing their vows at the same time we were (ours 28 yrs.), so we had segments of the ceremony together and at times separate, it was very well done!

After that we had our BBQ lunch served to us in our cabana, wow we had enough food to feed an army, Mario took our orders for meats, so we all got what we wanted, he brought us all kinds of salads ( 5 different kinds I think), more cut-up fresh fruit, and deserts, The island BBQ is very good.

After that we spent most of the time in the water and over to the rocks to snorkel, tons of fish come around you. They seemed anxious to see people.

SEA DAYS:

These were rest days for us, most of the things we wanted to do seemed to be doubled up at the same time so we had to split up and take notes for each other, as it turned out they had the same things next week so we got to do them the next week.

DISEMBARKATION DAY:

As we are doing the b2b we were the last to get off the ship (no luggage), pass thru immigration, with nothing to declare, back thru security, back on the ship to the front desk for new cabin cards. We disembarked at 11am and were back on the ship 10 minutes later.

By the time we decided to do the next week our original cabin was taken so we had to move to a new cabin, HAL was wonderful in helping with this, I packed all non-hanging stuff in suitcases, they came about 10 am to move our hanging clothes and suitcases to our new cabin, it was a breeze.

BACK ON THE SHIP:

Our new cabin #5102 was a little disappointing at first, we now had the smaller verandah; a tender was parked on the level below our verandah. The bigger cabin was not as noticeable as the smaller verandah at first. As the days passed we adjusted nicely and enjoyed our second week as well! Our cabin guy was “Wandi” and he was great! Again there were times when he was over worked and off schedule a little (mostly due to pax requesting him to do stuff for them) but for the most part he just kept going until we were all satisfied, we actually felt sorry for him at times, he had a few cabins with pax from hell in them hehehehe ooops did I say that! Sorry but it seemed a bit much to ask him to run downstairs and get them shore excursion forms cause they messed up the set in the cabin already. A different cabin asked him to come in and change the toilet paper roll from the empty one to the new one under their sink in the bathroom. Those were just the requests I happen to hear coming or going from our cabin. Now don’t flame me but paying for a cruise does not excuse you from remembering these workers are real humans too! Yes they prolly get good pay, and tips but that will never replace simple respect!

We had dinner on the first night at the Pinnacle Grill, Odyssey Restaurant for the 2 for 1 special $10.00 per person. The food, atmosphere, and service were outstanding! We actually cut our filet mingon with butter knives, it was that tender and the flavor was out of this world! Ohhhhhh and the volcano cake!!!!! YUMMY!!!!

HALF MOON CAY:

Again we got up early and were in the Lido by 6:30am for breakfast. We rented the sky blue cabana and did not want to waste a minute on this wonderful island! YES! We finally found Paradise! We were given a priority tender pass with our cabana rental and were on the first tender out, with the cabana rental you get to take the last tender off at 4pm so we didn’t have to wait in line then either. We loved this cabana too! It came with an ice chest filled with 12 cans of soda pop and 4 waters, there was fresh fruit basket and flowers on the table, in the refrigerator (in the cupboard – lots of space to store personal stuff in too) was sliced fruit plate, olives, veggies & dip plate, salsa, avocado dip and chips, 2 lounge chairs with mist’ers, fresh water shower on deck, We had mats and snorkel gear for 4. We had 6 washcloths in ice cold water with ice packed on top, for our faces or body to cool down with. Our cabana guy was “Ricardo” and was great! He also brought us extra towels too. Which was really good because it rained on us for about 30 minutes and got some towels wet, we really felt bad for those caught in the rain with no shelter to keep their stuff dry? It was a nice sun shinning day till around 1pm then the rain came, allot of pax just packed up and went back to the ship, others found shelter anywhere they could. 30 minutes later the sun was back and we were back in the water. The captain made everyone exit the water while it was raining for safety purposes, which we didn’t mind. To us it was just another sign our captain cared for our safety and well being! Again we felt it was well worth the money, what a day of being spoiled in Paradise!

Our BBQ lunch served to us in our cabana as well, “Ricardo” also took our orders for meats (pork ribs, chicken, steak, hot dogs, and hamburgers) and brought us more salads, cut-up fresh fruit, and deserts, the BBQ was very good again.

After that we spent most of the time in the water snorkeling, looking for shells, shopping and just eating hehehehe. We could stay here forever!

TORTOLA:

What a beautiful little island! Good shopping was about 4 blocks from the ship, 2 blocks from the ship was called rip-off alley, however we found a lot of good deals there, town shops didn’t deal with their prices, and again we found that the ship sponsored shops were very high prices. We went on the Virgin Sail Away snorkeling excursion. The waters were clear blue and snorkeling was good. We went to Morgan’s island to the caves to snorkel, there were lots of jellyfish and luckily they were not the stinging kind. Back onto the catamaran to a private beach with one bar on it and a closet sized gift shop. The beach was pleasant but very rocky and sharp coral hurt your bare feet getting in and out of the water, we did wear water shoes however before we were able to get on the catamaran we had to take off our shoes and put them in a container, no shoes allowed on the catamaran, we would have protested had we known about the beach area. Still it was very beautiful and worth the money!

ST. THOMAS / ST. JOHN:

St. Thomas and St. John are by far the best ports in this weeks ports. Very clear and blue waters everywhere, lots of little islands around St. John. Shopping was right at the ship in St. Thomas, but you could take a taxi for 6 dollars each way per person into town for better shops (actually richer ships). We again found the ship guaranteed shops to be high priced (no surprise there) and a lot of the coupons were not honored as the ship stated they would be, especially the freebies just for going to that shop. However I did receive a lot of free stuff from the shops I made purchases from.

We went on the Champagne Catamaran Snorkel excursion. All the free champagne and pain killers, punch, or water you could drink on the 3 hour tour. Boy did a lot of pax get drunk on this tour, not us but we had fun watching them stumble back to the ship hehehehehe. This tour took us to a beach on St. John called honeymoon beach, it was very beautiful and isolated. No restrooms, you had to swim back to the catamaran and use their facilities. One pax nearly drowned on this tour and the catamaran captain acted quickly and called for help, which arrive 10 minutes later and took the pax and his wife to the hospital. He was released and brought back to the ship at 5pm, minutes before we left port. He was ok but took in lots of salt water to his lungs, not sure how this happened as he had to have (it was mandatory for all pax on this tour) on a life vest to leave the catamaran but he seemed no worse for the wear during the rest of the cruise, I even saw him swimming in the pool with his 2 kids later that week.

NASSAU:

The walk to the catamaran from the ship was at least 4 blocks away, this was the same for all water excursions.

Hubby was not feeling well today so I went on the Blue Lagoon Stingray snorkel excursion, waters were choppy and it was rainy a lot of the time, this was really fun for me as I have never done anything like this, however a lot of pax were not real pleased as they had done this in better places. We were in a netted fenced off area, 15ft deep swimming above approx. 6 stingray pets, yes I called them pets, these were so tame and loved to be touched or hugged, which the workers did a lot of, We also got to feed them pieces of squid, they have no teeth so it felt really weird like a gumming action, it was great!

Again shopping seemed high in all ship recommended stores. We did not care too much for this port again but I loved Blue Lagoon!

SEA DAYS:

These were rest days for us, most of the things we wanted to do we did, pools were very crowded on sea days, but that was expected.

DISEMBARKATION:

We booked thru HAL the Port Everglades Airboat Ride excursion so we were given priority in getting off the ship, approx. 8:30am we were called to disembark, we were directed to our luggage color area, got our luggage, (it was easy to find ours as I made red, white, & blue yarn jumbo tassels for our luggage handles) and passed thru immigration and was on the bus by 8:55 am. However we sat on the bus till 9:15 am waiting on late pax for this excursion. Off to the airboats ride, wow this was a treat! We actually got to see 3 alligators in the wild; this was the best part of this excursion. Then a short walk to the Indian village replica, after watching a 20 minute video of an Indian talking about the history of the everglades and their culture, we walked to the alligator exhibit, this was ok but I have seen better stuff on Animal planet TV hehehehe no crock hunter here hehehehe. Petting a 9 month old alligator was really fun too. Now off to the panthers exhibit, nope no panthers but they had some tiger cubs, albino skunk, prairie dog, parrot and a snake in cages to look at.

We were back on the bus and headed to FLLAirport by 12:15pm. We made 3 stops so pax could catch their flights; yep you guessed it we were on the last stop (American Airlines). Approx. 1 pm we were at the airport, the porters helped us with all our luggage, checked in our bags, checked us in and we were inside by 1:15pm. Now the not so good news, he could not pass thru security and go to our gate until 2 hours before our flight, which was at 4:50pm.

Oh well, we cant have everything go just righWe waited the amount of time, then proceeded to our gate to find out I didn’t have an assigned seat next to my hubby for a 5 hour non-stop flight. As soon as they opened the gate desk, I asked to be seated next to my hubby, they had nothing but asked me to wait until they called me back up, they would see what they could do. They made it happen, hubby and I had great seats, they gave us drinks and snacks twice and they even fed us dinner in between the snacks. The 5 hours seemed to last forever but it was only because we wanted to see our family waiting for us at home.

Recap:

We had a wonderful time! Did things go wrong, Yes! Did it ruin or upset our cruise, NO!

Thanks to all the good advice I received on the cc’ers board we were fully prepared and had everything we needed.

Did HAL mess up, YES! Did they make it up to us, YES!

We met some of the nicest people on this cruise and some of the rudest people on this earth.

Would we cruise on the Zuiderdam or with HAL again? In a heartbeat we would!

The A/C worked the whole time; we felt no vibrations except some slight ones in the forward dinning area

during our great escape from hurricane Charley, I feel I only noticed these because I was looking for them.

I will be happy to answer any questions you might have, but please keep in mind I am really feeling my first jetlag ever hehehee so it may take a few hours to answer.

Thanks Everyone for your support and friendship!

It was very nice to return home and find I was missed on here!

Hugs to you all!

Ok now where is my cruise book! hehehehehe

Sorry the fonts came out weird, dont know why :)

Cruise Director was Dane Butcher - he was great!

Captian was Johammes van Biljouw - ditto!

Cruise Relations Manager was Sissel Bergersen - ditto!

I forgot to mention I was able to meet TylerRose and her family! All real nice people and it was fun meeting them! TylerRose gave us a little aniversary bear that now sits on top of my computer moniter :) Very sorry I didnt get to meet Patticakes or Queasy Cruiser, maybe next time!

Thanks for taking the time to write a review. I enjoyed reading it. Glad you ha a good time.

Welcome back!

Believe it or not the kids have already finished their first week of school!

I am so glad you guys had a great time. We'll be leaning towards Alaska or Europe next summer. We were much harsher than you, so don't feel bad. It has been explained since I posted my frustrations that many HAL trademarks of excellence were eliminated on all ships since last summer. Very sad.

As for rude people... We have Never had a HAL, Carnival, Costa, Cunnard, or even Disney Cruise where we had that experience before. Zuiderdam is catering to a party crowd, offering great discounts to fill the ship, and frankly, I think a week playing chicken with Hurricane Charley led to a bit more sea time drinking and determination for "Their" cruise to be saved.

Sorry to have missed your vow renewel. Mimi and I were trapped on the boat after HAL doublebooked our cabana.

We really enjoyed meeting you two!

TylerRose

Really enjoyed reading your review. Sounds like you had a wonderful time. We also had a great cruise on this ship back in July. Have you decided where you'll be cruising next?

Thanks for writing your review.

We were all wondering how you made out on your first cruise with hurricane Charley in the area.

Great review, makes us anxious for our upcoming December cruise. Again a report of limiting dinner entrees to one. Is this happening on all ships or just the "Z"?

Ziggy:) Hi, so glad you had a good time! And your positives definitely seemed to outnumber the negatives (ALWAYS A GOOD THING):D

Well, 2 weeks from Saturday I will be sailing her.......

Thank You Ziggy for taking the time and effort to inform all of us left ashore.

Your review is a breath of fresh air in that your cruise and resulting review are open minded and your attitude is a positive one - appears you look for good in everything life hands you.

We look forward to our 1st time on the "Z" next month and will go with the same open mind and positive attitude.

Welcome back!

 

Believe it or not the kids have already finished their first week of school!

I am so glad you guys had a great time. We'll be leaning towards Alaska or Europe next summer. We were much harsher than you, so don't feel bad. It has been explained since I posted my frustrations that many HAL trademarks of excellence were eliminated on all ships since last summer. Very sad.

As for rude people... We have Never had a HAL, Carnival, Costa, Cunnard, or even Disney Cruise where we had that experience before. Zuiderdam is catering to a party crowd, offering great discounts to fill the ship, and frankly, I think a week playing chicken with Hurricane Charley led to a bit more sea time drinking and determination for "Their" cruise to be saved.

Sorry to have missed your vow renewel. Mimi and I were trapped on the boat after HAL doublebooked our cabana.

We really enjoyed meeting you two!

TylerRose

Oh nooooo I wish I had known about the double booking on the cabana, you all could have joined us at the tourquoise one, HAL could have made up the difference for drinks and food for you at least!

We wondered who those strange people were in your cabana, hubby had me convinced I had the wrong color but I walked the beach looking in them all for you and your family to no avail, now I know why.

Also we are sorry your cruise was not as you had hoped, as we did not have young kids to worry about it was different for us in that aspect.

Maybe we will all cruise again sometime and be able to keep in touch on the ship more, wow the Zuiderdam sure is big!

Again sorry about the cabana mix up, we would have been real upset too!

Really enjoyed reading your review. Sounds like you had a wonderful time. We also had a great cruise on this ship back in July. Have you decided where you'll be cruising next?

No not yet, hubby needs to have a few surgery's before we can even think about another cruise, so I am just going to hang out here and read all your reviews and cruise thru you til our next cruise, Hubby would like to do Panama next. Me I will go anywhere as long as I'm on a "dam ship" hehehehe

Thanks for writing your review.

 

We were all wondering how you made out on your first cruise with hurricane Charley in the area.

That was really sweet of you all worrying about our cruise, we really didnt even know there was a hurricane til our captain made the announcement, The ship sold out (500 cards) of their 12 minutes for $25.00 cards within hours of the announcement. Everyone wanted to call home and let their family know they were safe. I missed out how ever only to learn that calling from the ship anywhere was $7.95 a minute, eeeks, since my parents cruise HAL alot we knew they wouldnt be worried and would calm our kids.

They did offer on the friday before disemabarkment day you could call from your stateroom to anywhere for $2.95 a minute. So we called home real quick before we started our second week.

Ziggy:) Hi, so glad you had a good time! And your positives definitely seemed to outnumber the negatives (ALWAYS A GOOD THING):D

 

Well, 2 weeks from Saturday I will be sailing her.......

Wooooooohoooooo Lois! Have a wonderful time!!!!

I carry luggage for you real cheap if you take me with you LOL!

Thank You Ziggy for taking the time and effort to inform all of us left ashore.

Your review is a breath of fresh air in that your cruise and resulting review are open minded and your attitude is a positive one - appears you look for good in everything life hands you.

We look forward to our 1st time on the "Z" next month and will go with the same open mind and positive attitude.

Thanks Spot, I'm sure you will have a wonderful time!

Will be looking forword to your review :)

Ziggy7, thanks for a wonderful review of your b2b cruise! Congratulations on your first cruise and I'm pleased to hear that you had a great experience. I pray things go well for your hubby and that you enjoy your next cruise!

Ziggy-

Glad to hear that you enjoyed your vacation!!! I have found crusing on HAL to be rather addicting!!:eek: My only question is, when will you book your next cruise??? hehehe:cool:

Ah, Ziggy, such a wonderful upbeat review. You even talk about the "bad" stuff like it was nothing because overall you had such a good time! We were all thinking of you when Charley came over Jamaica and the Caymans, but I felt sure your Captain would scoot around him.

I was looking at the deck plans and I'm confused about your 2 cabins. I understand about the larger deck in your first cabin, but then you mention that your second cabin was larger? It hardly looks it on the plan so could you give me an idea what you mean? We're going to be in 5086 just down the hall from you on the Oosterdam (I wanted to be near the glass elevators and I like midships).

Sounds like the cabanas are very much worth the money! Specially so since we're sharing ours with another couple who'll be travelling with us.

I agree with you about Nassau. Our cruise docks there at 7am and leaves at noon so we may not even get off the ship:D . Once you've been there, there's no real need to go back IMHO.

Thanks for this fabulous review! Really loved reading it because you make it all so real.

Ah, Ziggy, such a wonderful upbeat review. You even talk about the "bad" stuff like it was nothing because overall you had such a good time! We were all thinking of you when Charley came over Jamaica and the Caymans, but I felt sure your Captain would scoot around him.

Yes he was very good at it too!

I was looking at the deck plans and I'm confused about your 2 cabins. I understand about the larger deck in your first cabin, but then you mention that your second cabin was larger? It hardly looks it on the plan so could you give me an idea what you mean? We're going to be in 5086 just down the hall from you on the Oosterdam (I wanted to be near the glass elevators and I like midships).

When we mentioned about our veranhah being smaller than our last one our tablemates told us it was because we had a larger stateroom, we did not notice any difference in size between the two cabins, other than possibly a wider path at the end of the bed and the couch in the last cabin was wider in depth. Also having the tender under us blocked our veiw to look straight down, we got used to this very shortly, we were just spoiled by not having anything block ther straight down view the first week hehehe.

One other thing, we slep with our curtins open, (never the door) because I love waking in the middle of the night looking at the stars. this was pretty much not possble the second week as we were by the glass elevator, which is lighted up all night, at first we thought it was our neighbors verandah light. This may not be a problem for you as we were only the second cabin from the elevator.

Thanks for this fabulous review! Really loved reading it because you make it all so real.

You are very welcome, I look foward to yours as well :)

Have a wonderful cruise!!!